A number of things about Zacchaeus’ life would have made him feel incredibly inadequate. He was a chief tax collector and a wealthy man. Tax collectors were widely regarded as notorious public sinners. Being wealthy as well, especially from dishonest gain, was also an obstacle to his faith.
We can see three stages in the conversion of Zacchaeus, his
initial desire, this act of seeking, and his transformation.
Desire
Zacchaeus “was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could
not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature” (Luke 19:3).
The act of seeking is an important theme in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus connects
this to ‘seeking to find what is lost.’ The beginning of Zacchaeus’ journey was
his desire to see Jesus as he was passing by. I believe this desire was given to him by God.
Seeking
It is not enough to possess this desire. We must act on it.
We experience many distractions in our lives, including our feelings of not
being good enough. It would take courage to embrace these feelings and choose to
‘show up and be seen’ by those who reject him. The crowds would be very unfriendly to him.We call this type of courage vulnerability.
Jesus says, “everyone who humbles himself we be exalted” (Luke 18:14, cf. Sirach
35:21).
Zacchaeus needed the humility to face the hostile crowd and to seek to find Jesus. He ran ahead of the crowds and “climbed a sycamore tree in
order to see Jesus.” A sycamore tree had a wide, short trunk with lateral
branches that would be easy to climb.
Transformation
Unexpectedly, when Jesus arrived at the tree he, “looked up
and said, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your
house’" (Luke 19:5). To his great surprise, Jesus knows Zacchaeus by name, and wants to share
hospitality with him.
St. Luke tells us, Zacchaeus “came down quickly and received
him with joy” (Luke 19:6) but the crowds begin to grumble against Jesus (Luke
19:6).
The crowd failed to understand the Gospel message. Many
religious people understand faith as a set of rules to follow; it is all about
duty and obligation. After all Zacchaeus was a rule breaker!
The New Law of the Gospel is the transformation of our heart
from within (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is a call to be holy as God himself is
holy, and to imitate Jesus.
Zacchaeus’ conversion illustrates the profound difference
this interior work of the Spirit makes. Hearing the protest of the crowd,
Zacchaeus spontaneously makes reparation for his past sins. He says, “Behold,
half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted
anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:8).
Zacchaeus is not just following the rules. He is pursuing a
newfound holiness with excellence. At the time of Jesus, it was considered generous
to give away 20 percent of one’s possessions and legal restitution for
extortion was 20 percent (Lev. 5:16; Num. 5:7). The harsher double penalty
Zacchaeus imposed on himself was only for rustlers (Exod. 22:1).
The crowds would have been quite satisfied with Zacchaeus meeting
the obligation of the law, but the Spirit has led him to a more excellent way. (2
Corinthians 9:7).
I pray that the Lord will awaken a newfound desire in each
of our hearts. He knows each of us by name. Let us do what we can to seek him. Today
if you hear his voice, open the door, and invite him into your house.
Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).
No comments:
Post a Comment